Keshab Sigdel(from Nepal writing in Nepali)


An Evening

Each day before the sun sets

Cows return to their sheds

Blowing dust along their trails

The goat’s kid that had parted from its flock

Comes hopping at the yard of the house

And looks reassured. 

Somewhere around the guava grove

The soft sound of the beetles

Grow into a strong melody.

In its hide-and-seek movement through tiny clouds

The moon glitters.

After keeping safe his slippers with the blue straps

Chádani’s father sits with his legs crossed at the porch

He takes out a leaf-wrapped tobacco stick

And with a loud voice

Asks for a coal-fire to kindle it.

This way, since many years,

This old house has composed a melody

Of its happiness.

Unexpectedly, today

The cows did not return through their dusty trails

Nor did the goat’s kid arrive hopping as usual.

The frogs croak incessantly

To invite rain this evening  

Chádani’s father’s slippers are found

With their broken straps

Below the guava tree nearby our house.

Due to some unknown fear

I am sweating.

At the edge of a paddy field

There is a cloth, completely drenched.

As the moon grows dull covered by the clouds

I am unable to discern

Whether that piece of cloth

Is a flag of victory

Or an indication of my despair!

(Translated by the author)

एक साँझ [An Evening]

हरेक दिन घाम डुब्नु अघि

धुलो उडाउँदै 

गाईहरु गोठ सम्झिएर फर्कन्छन् ।

बथानबाट छुट्टिएको बाख्राको पाठो

बुर्कुसी मार्दै घरको आँगनमा आइपुगेपछि

ढुक्क जस्तो देखिन्छ ।

घर नजिकै अम्बाका रुखहरुमा

झ्याँउकिरीको मसिनो आवाज पनि

भाका जगाएर चर्किदैं जान्छ ।

ससाना बादलहरुमा लुकामारी गर्दै

जुन टिलपिलाउन थाल्छ ।

दैलो नेर निलो फित्ता भएका आफ्ना चप्पलहरु 

सुरक्षित राखेपछि

पिढींमा पलेंटी कसेर बस्छन् चाँदनीका बुवा

हुक्कामा तम्बाखु भर्छन्

र, चर्को डाँको गरेर 

त्यसलाई सल्काउन आगो माग्छन् ।

यसरी वर्षौदेखि यो रुग्ण घरले

अभाव सहेरै भए पनि 

खुशीको आफ्नै लय बनाएको थियो । 

अचानक आज 

न धुलो उडाउँदै गाईहरु आए

न बुर्कुसी मार्दै बाख्राको पाठो आइपुग्यो ।

पानी पर्नलाई हो की

भ्यागुताहरु टर्टराएको एकनासको आवाज मात्र आइरहेछ ।

घर नजिकैको अम्बाको रुखनेर 

फित्ता टुटेको अवस्थामा 

चाँदनीका बुवाका तिनै चप्पलहरु छन् ।

कुन डरले हो

म पसीनाले भिज्दै गइरहेको छु ।

घर छेउको खेतको डीलमा 

लछप्प भिजेको कपडा पनि छ ।

बादलले धमिलो हुँदै गएको जूनमा

म छुट्याउन सकिरहेको छैन

त्यो भिजेको लुगा 

रातो झण्डा हो की 

अनन्त यन्त्रणको एउटा निस्सा !

Keshab Sigdel is the author of two poetry collections: Samaya Bighatan (Dissolution of Time, 2007) and Colour of the Sun (Poesis, 2017). He has edited Madness: An anthology of world poetry (RedPanda Books, 2023) featuring 297 poets from 101 countries/territories. He also edited a volume of Nepali poetry, An Anthology of Contemporary Nepali Poetry (Big Bridge, 2016). His recent work of translation Shades of Color (Nepal Academy, 2021), is a collection of indigenous Nepali poetry. Besides poetry, he also writes fiction, literary essays and plays. He is the Editor of Poetry Planetariat, a global poetry magazine published by World Poetry Movement. He also co-edited Of Nepalese Clay, literary journal of the Society of Nepali Writers in English and Rupantaran, a journal of translation published by Nepal Academy. Sigdel teaches Poetry and Literature of War, Conflict and Trauma at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.